Dear Editor,
Much has been said by many on the recent decision by the Chief Justice concerning the budget of two years ago, and it is most unfortunate that the judiciary had and will have to get into this matter again. I make this comment because the Guyanese people spoke clearly in the 2011 elections. They decided that they were tired of any one political party simultaneously controlling both the parliament and the executive. They did not trust the PPP/C, the APNU, or AFC with all the political power and wanted instead a system in which they could hold each other accountable for the way in which the country is organized and managed.
Hence, the Guyanese people deviated from the old path of doing business and made a new dispensation of dividing the authority between the parties, but allowing shared responsibility of governance bet-ween them.
This resulted in the PPP/C being in charge of the executive for everyday governance and the opposition being in charge of Parliament, where changes to existing law or making new law, and deciding on the use of scarce national resources are to be made following rigorous debate, compromise and agreement. The Guyanese people were smart and were signalling how they wanted the country to be governed. This is the forward thinking of the electorate. Unfortunately, the fact that the executive sought validation from the judiciary to over-ride the majority decision in parliament signals that they wish to return to the old dispensation of executive and parliamentary control without the new dispensation by the people.
This is indeed a backward step, for Guyanese have seen the outcome of such a decrepit system, where executive and parliamentary control by one party, using a flawed constitution, the lack of local government elections, and a set of ineffective oversight institutions have failed the country for several decades. There are no checks and balances, no accountability and no penalties for wrongdoing.
Guyanese have had enough of this failed approach to governance. We must give the people what they voted for. We must listen to the cry of the people which comes from the election results and it must be heard in the executive and it must be heard in parliament. But don’t despair Guyana, for the old people had it right when they intoned, ‘Moon ah run till daylight ketcham.’
Yours faithfully,
C Kenrick Hunte
